Lorde - Writer in the Dark

Balancing the Unique With the Heartfelt

Every songwriter I know wants to write something unique, and you don’t even need to wonder why. Simply put, uniqueness means it hasn’t been done before, and there’s no better way to set yourself apart from other songwriters than to write something that hasn’t been done quite that way before. While that may be true, […]

Songwriter - lyrics

Organizing Words and Phrases Into a Complete Lyric

Improvisation plays an important role in pop songwriting. And we love that feeling of quickly coming up with musical ideas and having them sound great right from the start. Hopefully you know, however, that most songs, even the ones that seem to spill deliciously out of our musical minds within minutes, require some working and […]

Singer-Songwriter

Making Others Care About Your Songs

Everyone has their own motivation for becoming a songwriter. For most, and likely for you, it’s a variation on the need for self-expression. With every song, you have a thought, a feeling or an opinion that you want to express. Who knows how many possible problems or errors that can be committed when writing a […]

Piano - Songwriter

Lyrics Easy, Melody Hard?

If you find it hard to create a melody that works with your lyric, it might be that you find the entire package of the musical side of things (melody, chords, rhythms, etc.) to be difficult. Some lyricists are good at creating images, and saying much with few words, but when it comes time to […]

Music box

Using Public Domain Songs In Your Own Songwriting

If you find it hard coming up with great original melodies, you do have an option to consider: using a melody from a public domain song. Public domain refers to the fact that the original copyright of a song has expired. In many countries copyright expires 70 years after the death of the copyright holder. […]

songwriting dissatisfaction

Dissatisfaction With Your Own Songs Can Be a Positive Step Forward

How many times do you listen to songs you’ve written in the recent past — say, six months or a year ago — and feel dissatisfied with what you hear? Is it a bad sign if you feel some measure of dissatisfaction with your older songs? The eBook “From Amateur to Ace: Writing Songs Like […]